The Toronto Sceptres were kept in by Kirk, Daryl Watts sunk her former team, and Toronto's power play continued to thrive in their OT win over Ottawa.
The Toronto Sceptres were kept in by Kirk, Daryl Watts sunk her former team, and Toronto's power play continued to thrive in their OT win over Ottawa.
The Toronto Sceptres won their fourth straight game as they beat the Ottawa Charge 3-2 in overtime in their final Takeover Tour stop in Edmonton in front of 17,518 fans.
Here are three takeaways from the Sceptres' win.
Kirk Holds Sceptres In
Understandably, the Sceptres looked a little jet lagged in the first period after only arriving in Edmonton 24 hours before their game, and the performance showed.
Lucky for the Sceptres the one player that was ready to play was netminder Raygan Kirk. In the first period alone the Charge managed to fire 17 shots at Kirk, 16 of which she was able to save, limiting the damage to just one power play goal.
One of Kirk's biggest saves of the night came with less than a minute left in the first period where she stopped Gabbie Hughes one-on-one with a sprawling pad save.
Overall Kirk made 33 saves on 35 shots, improving her record to 5-1 this season with a .918 save percentage. If it hadn’t been for Kirk's performance in the first period, the Sceptres would have been in a bigger hole.
Watts Gets Revenge Against Former Team
Daryl Watts played by far her best game of the season in Edmonton on Sunday afternoon, leading the Sceptres above her former club, the Ottawa Charge.
The winger got the Sceptres their first goal of the game on the power play when she walked into the middle of the ice and fired a shot off the post and in, beating Emerance Maschmeyer and tying the game at one.
Watts came up big again in overtime scoring the game-winner.
Coming into Sunday, Watts had only scored four goals on the season and with her two goals tonight is on pace to surpass the 10 goals she scored last season.
With Natalie Spooner and Sarah Nurse out of the lineup, it is imperative that Watts is able to be effective offensively and her performance on Sunday is a sign that she can do just that.
Power Play Continues To Dominate
A big part of the Sceptres' success during their winning streak has been their ability to consistently capitalize on the power play.
The Sceptres scored two of their three goals with the extra skater during the win and a big part of that is their movement. On the power play the Sceptres rotated around the offensive zone to not create a consistent looks for opposing defenders, and they also made quick passes, never holding the puck for a long period.
This is why Julia Gosling found herself wide open in the slot for her one-timer goal on the Sceptres' first power play in the second period.
At a success rate of 31.5%, this is a valuable weapon that the Sceptres will need to continue to use if they want to climb the standings.